Lovers
by LiveLaughLovex
Summary: They never were that good at being just friends OR the one where Olivia and Jake drink and afterwards remember what happens every time that they do. OLAKE endgame.


**Author's Note: Okay, this is the third installment in the Strangers 'verse, so while it can be read as a standalone, reading Strangers and Friends will probably help you understand better. I will try to have And More, the fourth and final piece for Campaign Trail Olake, up before the end of the week. And I would like to take this portion to respond to the comments left on my two previous works in the 'verse.**

 **gg16:**

 _Strangers: Thank you so much! I had just watched the scene in season five when Mellie shows up at Liv's door with the hooch and they have that conversation about why Mellie stayed and why Liv left when I wrote it, so it was easy to get into that honest mindset for Strangers. And honestly, after what happened to Mellie and Fitz when he got involved in politics, I could see her urging Olivia not to make the same mistakes._

 _Friends: I actually haven't been able to watch much of the show, but I agree that the newest season doesn't have the setup currently for Olivia and Jake to go stand in the sun. It also didn't have Mellie win the general, so I'm more than a little upset by it (I mean honestly, Mellie as President? She's so classy and badass that she could tell someone to do unthinkable things to themselves and still say it in a way that made it sound like a compliment. She would be great at it). And I love Jake and Olivia as friends, too. I love Jake and Olivia in general, but friends/lovers is my favorite relationship between them. Obviously, haha._

 **IDon'tDoLadylike24:**

 _Strangers: Thank you so much! I've been reading your fics for a while now and I love them so much, so I'm very glad you liked this. I decided to just continue writing and accept that some people are never going to be happy with me in this fandom no matter what I do, and that's not my issue to deal with. I'm actually posting all of these on mobile, but I will look into the commenting regulations when I'm back on my PC. Thank you so much for your kind words and advice._

 _Friends: Thank you! I was aiming for cute, so I'm glad I hit the mark, haha._

 **Guest 3 (Strangers): Thank you! I am so glad that you liked it! And I don't know why either. I try not to overthink their reasoning for it.**

 **Guest (Friends): Thank you so much for your review! After reading the first three on my other story, I was a bit disheartened about writing the rest of this, but like so many other kind people in this fandom, you helped me see that that was not the way to better my writing.**

 **ALSO: I left some responses out intentionally, and this is my reason: I labelled both of my fics as having an Olake pairing, and I put Mellie in the character section of both of them. She is mentioned in the summary of the one that people have taken the most issue with. So if you don't want to read about a Mellie/Olivia friendship or a Jake/Olivia pairing, I did everything that I could to make it clear to you that my fic Strangers was not for you. While I love constructive criticism, calling my writing 'nastiness' just because of who I ship does not allow me to better my writing at all. If you have any problems with the pairing that I believe in, then please just eliminate it from your results in the Scandal archive on the Web site. There is no need to inflict unwarranted emotional pain on people who take time out of their lives to write for those who do enjoy reading about this pairing.**

 **All of that being said, I just want to once again thank the other Olake shippers for their kindness and for welcoming me into the fandom. I hope everyone enjoys this!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Scandal.**

Olivia Pope lounged on top of the very expensive bedspread that covered the bed in Jake Ballard's hotel room, her phone inches away from her face as she finished off a message to Quinn and then hit the 'Send' button before tossing it lightly onto one of the many pillows behind her. She ran a hand through her curls, staring up at the ceiling in a show of absolute boredom. She had never realized how much of a city girl she truly was until she had begun to campaign in rural states eight years before. Nothing had changed in the four years since she had last accompanied a candidate on the campaign trail.

There were only two days before the voting booths opened for those voting in the general election. At that point, Jake and Mellie were the only politicians continuously traveling with the senior staff members helping to keep the forces driving the Grant campaign onward from suddenly halting. Fitz had returned to D.C. to deal with some hacking scandal being reported by numerous sources, and Naomi had accompanied him. Vanessa was still absent from Jake's life; from the very little information she had been able to obtain from Jake about his estranged wife since their emotional and anger-driven conversation days before, Vanessa didn't plan on being Second Lady even if Jake won. She had already had divorce papers drawn up, and they had decided to sign them no matter the outcome on Election Day. Olivia supposed that it was smart, but that was the only opinion she allowed herself to voice on the matter. Anything else could shatter the tentative friendship they were still trying to rebuild to its previous heights.

Olivia knew enough to know that being alone in Jake's hotel room when his wife was a no-show that many people were beginning to theorize was actually a lifelike robot was probably not the best thing for optics. She also knew that she didn't particularly give a damn about optics when the reporters were wrong about their assumptions. Also, it was probably best that she was there that evening. There was some local late-night talk show hosted by a woman who worked for the station as a news broadcaster early in the afternoon that Jake was appearing on, and while he was capable of being handsome on his own, his style for appearances like those tended to be atrocious.

"Red or blue?" Jake asked as he exited the bathroom, holding up two ties. Olivia sat up so that she could view them both more clearly. They were both Party colors; one would show commitment to the GOP's ideals and agenda, while the other would show commitment to cooperation and understanding among parties. Olivia pointed to the blue option, and Jake nodded as he wrapped it around the upturned collar of his white dress shirt and tied it neatly and efficiently in less than thirty seconds. "Jacket or no?" he questioned, holding up the navy blue suit jacket in question.

Olivia shook her head to indicate that the jacket wasn't needed. "You'll look too buttoned-up," she explained, smiling as he shook his head in wonder. "What?"

"Nothing," he replied with a chuckle. "Nothing at all, Liv. So, tell me about this interviewer. Is she going to hate me before I even walk out on the stage?"

"You really had a bad experience during that interview with Lillian Forrester, didn't you?" Olivia asked with a light laugh as he plopped down on the bed beside her.

"Liv, I didn't even know her name before she was accusing me and every other politician in the country and possibly the world of being a philandering cad," Jake reminded her disbelievingly. "Last time I checked, Fitz is the one she dated. I never met her."

"Yes, and that is why Abby now sends muffins to anyone who dates a senior member of the administration. Naomi is still on the list. She makes me eat five a week because she claims they're going to ruin the diet that she doesn't need to be on. Fitz has apparently informed her of what she calls my weird dietary habits, so she's mothering me. I'm being mothered," Olivia replied as she stood up from the bed. Her explanation caused Jake to smirk, and she smiled herself before shaking her head. She extended her hand to him and pulled him from the bed without much struggle. Then again, he didn't put up a fight in the slightest. "Now, come on. You can't be late for this interview."

"Nope, can't have that," Jake murmured under his breath with a smirk on his face. "Will you be there at the studio?" he asked, reaching for her arm to prevent her from opening the door.

"I'll be backstage," Olivia confirmed confusedly. "Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering. I mean, if I get nervous, can I picture you in your underwear? Because, you know, stuttering out my words won't seem very vice presidential," Jake teased, a sinful smirk on his lips.

"Picturing your campaign manager in her underwear doesn't seem very vice presidential, either," Olivia tossed back with a smirk of her own.

"It does when I have firsthand knowledge of what they look like," Jake said quietly, causing Olivia to mockingly gasp in a show of indignation. "What? I do!"

"You are not allowed to talk about underwear in public. Understand?"

Jake smirked again. "Absolutely," he agreed as they finally headed down the hallway. "But we aren't in public right now."

"Oh, Lord, help me now." She wholeheartedly meant every word of that prayer.

Forty-five minutes later, Jake was charming the young woman interviewing him so thoroughly that he wasn't the one stumbling over his words by the second commercial break. Olivia shook her head as he walked towards her after being given a break of his own.

"Causing your interviewer to have a heart attack from flirting with her would not reflect well on the campaign," she sighed, her smile still in place. "How do you think it's going?"

"Well, my ideals and my agenda aren't really that fun to talk about ten billion times, but I think it's going well." Someone called his name, and Jake flashed her a smile. "And we are back on," he called over his shoulder as he returned to the stage.

"Admiral Ballard, you once said that the welfare of this nation is as much in the hands of its people as it is in the hands of its military and government agencies. Would you like to expand on that?" the still-flustered interviewer asked once the show was declared to be back on air.

Jake smiled. "While I said that several years ago, it holds true. We are the people that the Constitution was written to protect and defend, but we also have to be willing to protect and defend it for this Republic to work in reality and not just in theory. I'm reminded of that every day when I go to work or get reports from intelligent men and women at the NSA, and I am also reminded of it every time I attend a campaigning event. This nation is going to soon be in the capable hands of the next generation, and Senator Grant and I just want to have a chance to make our mark on the world and change it for the better so that what we give to the next generation is a bit more stable than what was given to us."

The interviewer giggled girlishly, and Olivia had to physically prevent her eyes from rolling. She really needed to stop spending so much time with male politicians that could charm the newscasters with literally everything that they said.

"And one final question for you, Admiral. This one was the most popular among our viewership. Will we be seeing Mrs. Ballard with you at the party on Election Night?"

Jake hesitated, but anyone who hadn't done mock interviews with him a hundred times over wasn't likely to notice it. He pasted a smile on his face that was extremely less genuine than the one he had allowed to slightly slip moments before. "Nessa is always busy," he replied with a slight laugh, "so I can't confirm or deny whether she will be there. I do know that she believes in the same ideals that both the Senator and I do, and she is very excited to meet the voters and speak to them about their concerns over the next few days."

"Well, there you have it, folks," the interviewer stated cheerfully, still slightly flustered. "Thank you for your time, Admiral Ballard, and the best of luck to you and Senator Grant on Election Day."

Jake mustered up another charming smile as he thanked her for her well wishes and then shook her hand, but Olivia could tell that his heart was no longer in it. She smiled when the cameras panned around to her, then waited for Jake to thank the producers and other members of the staff before they returned to their hotel.

The ride to the hotel was almost silent. Olivia knew that there were a lot of things on Jake's mind, but she also knew she didn't have a right to ask what any of them were. They were friends, yes, but their friendship at the moment was reminiscent of the one they had shared when they first met; they flirted, they laughed, they joked, and they didn't actually talk about anything substantial through all of it. She was reminded of how much she had hated this aspect of their relationship back the first time around when Jake climbed from the car in front of the hotel without so much of a glance in her direction.

Mellie was still in the private conference room off of the lobby when they entered, but she wasn't discussing strategy. Olivia smiled at Teddy as he waved in her direction before his attention returned to the dinosaurs and coloring books on the table in front of him.

Mellie smiled slightly when Olivia walked into the room, Jake a few feet behind her with his own smile lighting up his features. "Fitz called to say goodnight two hours ago, but he wasn't quite ready to go with Nanny Jen to get tucked in yet," she explained, pressing a kiss to the top of her son's head. "How did the interview go?"

"Jake flirted with her, so it went all right," Olivia commented amusedly, causing Jake to scoff indignantly behind her. "That seems to work every time."

"Oh, it would probably work on me, too," Mellie replied through her laughter. She smiled when Teddy yawned. "Okay, I think we are going to turn in for the night."

"Okay. Good night, Teddy," Olivia said with a fond smile.

"'Night, Liv. 'Night, Jake," Teddy replied sleepily from his mother's arms.

"Good night, buddy," Jake replied with a fond smile of his own, patting the little boy's back when Mellie made her way past him. He turned to Liv once they were out of the room. "I have a minibar in my room that's gonna be charged to the campaign."

"Then why the hell are we still here?" Olivia question in mock disbelief, causing him to burst into laughter as she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the elevators.

In hindsight, they should have remembered what had happened all of the other times that they had been alone together and well past half-drunk.

The minibar didn't have wine, but it did have several tiny bottles of whiskey and various other types of hard liquor. Jake extended a small bottle of bourbon towards her, and she smiled as she accepted it.

"I don't think I've had hard liquor for fun in forever," she stated as she took her first sip. "With this campaign..."

"Yeah, a lot of the drinking most of us do on the trail is to numb the pain," Jake agreed with her unspoken statement. He tapped his bottle against hers and smiled when she chuckled. "They have beer, too."

"Are you ever going to stop trying to coerce me into drinking beer?" Olivia questioned as she took another sip and winced at the burn of the alcohol down her throat.

"No," Jake informed her seriously, causing her to look towards him in surprise, wondering where that had come from until she saw his smirk. She shook her head as he elaborated, "I'm going to corrupt you by the end of this campaign over onto the dark side with all of the rest of us normal people."

"You don't know that all normal people drink beer," she protested halfheartedly.

"I do not," he accepted, "but I do know that most normal people do not buy Du Bellay in bulk."

"It was only seven bottles!"

"There are only a hundred, though, so buying seven is buying in bulk," Jake pointed out.

"I hate your logic," Olivia sighed through her laughter.

"Yeah, well, that doesn't make it any less true," Jake reminded, finishing his bottle seconds before she finished hers and then reaching into the fridge for two more. It only took four more of the bottles after that before they ended up where they always seemed to end up when they were alone and well past buzzed: trapped in the past.

"I honestly didn't know you were that attached to beer," Olivia laughed after he reminded her of one of the more humorous arguments they had had while on the island.

"I'm not, but your wine is way too expensive for my taste buds," Jake replied seriously. "Also, how do you accidentally drop an entire case of beer?"

"That was actually your fault," Olivia reminded him matter-of-factly, accepting the beer he extended in her direction with no reaction other than the slight wrinkling of her nose.

"How was it my fault?" Jake questioned incredulously, tipping back his own beer to take a sip.

"You distracted me by doing that thing, remember? The thing where you..." Olivia trailed off.

"Oh! Yeah, I did that thing. Okay, I apologize for my confusion and take full responsibility for all of the beer casualties of that day." Jake grinned at her, then let out a chuckle. "We're always either pissed off or making out."

"What?" Olivia asked in confusion, taking a sip of her own beer with a slight wince.

"You and I. Whenever we drink, we either end up fighting or making out," Jake clarified.

"Well, we are not fighting," Olivia stated with an amused sigh.

"You're right. We're not," Jake murmured, moving slightly closer to her on the bed. Olivia knew right then and there that they were both about to be in trouble for doing something immeasurably stupid just for the sake of feeling something impossibly right. When his lips touched hers, her gut proved itself to be right once again.

She pulled away after a few moments, catching her breath before she looked towards him. "We..." She let the word hang in the air as she waited for him to form a coherent thought. When he did, it was the same as hers.

"We shouldn't be doing this," he stated, the rationality of the words pointless as long as he continued to look at her like he was.

"We shouldn't," she agreed breathlessly. "I mean, we can't. You're married, and you're Mellie's candidate for Vice President. You're going to help her make history in a few days. We can't be doing this."

"We can't be doing this," he echoed. His lips descended on hers within a second of him speaking.

Maybe they shouldn't have been doing it, but they did. And as they lost themselves in that moment and in each other, they were both reminded of why they had been good together in whatever kind of relationship they had had in the past six years.


End file.
